Review: Palio Blitz

I have a sheet of black Palio Blitz 47.5 deg that I'm trying out on my Timo Boll ALC ST. (Red BTY Roundell Soft 2.1 on the other side.)

Short term impression:

Sponge- The sponge is wobbly like the other new generation porous sponges out there. And similarly it adds vibration to the blade head, making whatever you have on the other side a little bit faster. Its medium weight. Lighter than Tenergy but heavier than Xiom Vega Euro, for example. In fact Blitz reminds me of Vega Euro, only harder. (I haven't tried Asia or Pro, but it could be more similar to one of those.) Its listed at 47.5 deg, but its dwell and weight make it seem softer than that.

Speed and spin- Blitz is less bouncy than Macro Era, and it has more control, so at first it seems slower than Macro Era. But once you get used to it, you can hit with a lot of power. (This is good, because I consider Macro Era to have good speed and control, and I don't even consider it a "bouncy" rubber.) In the end I think its overall slower than Macro Era 47.5 deg but faster than 42.5 deg once you figure out its different angles.

Looping, service, serve return- 45� angled loops have great dwell and catapult with Blitz. Flat hitting has good power and control. Blitz doesn't hold the speed and spin as good as Tenergy once you graze the ball beyond 45�, but what rubber does?

Service is fantastic. If you cut the ball thin with your serves you can get tons of spin with Blitz. Short spinny serves with good blade acceleration are really juiced up... If you like to get a little more sponge on your serves like medium or deep serves with power and spin, Blitz is basically similar to the other new gen rubbers.

Throw angle, reaction to spin- Medium throw angle. Maybe higher than Macro Era. Not nearly as high as CJ8000 36 deg, and no where close to Sriver G3, two of the highest throw rubbers I've ever tried. Blitz does not seem overly reactive to spin. But that might take more experimentation in different game situations. Bottom line, considering the kind of heavy spin you can put on the ball when you want to, it has fantastic control.

Overall- I think this is a great BH rubber for advanced 2-wing loopers who don't want to spend a lot of money. Or if you like med-soft rubbers on your fh and hit with topspin, Blitz is a good fh rubber.

Best of all, you can get a new sheet shipped for only $33.50! That definitely makes it a good rubber for my collection.

I think Macro Era is a great looping rubber. Macro Era 47.5 will give you more power for looping than Blitz. Blitz will have more control and I think it has more spin for looping and serves.

Most all my time was spent playing PME 42.5 & simple old Macro.
The handful of times I did play with  47.5 I didn't care for it but maybe it could be attributed more to the blade/s it was on.
It wasn't bad I just liked the softer sponges better.
This is not the case with BLIT'Z.
I found I LOVED the 47.5 sponge!

Like you (LOOPMEISTER), while slightly "bouncy" to some, I never had a problem with PME playing short soft stuff & I completely agree when you say it (BLIT'Z) is less bouncy. It's interesting that we've both found it seems to provide more vibration to the head. I must confess though, I am not understanding you when you say "making whatever you have on the other side a little bit faster".

I'd like to have an extended hit with BLIT'Z again so I could rightly compare it to XIOM Vega Pro, which is itself a really sweet rubber.

btw excellent pictures!
Maybe you are more discerning than me but I take comfort in knowing I got some of it right!!!

My BLIT'Z mini-review

Loopmeister, have you tried Hexer? How is it compared to Blitz? Is Blitz top sheet using 100% Natural rubber?

peter79 wrote: Is Blitz top sheet using 100% Natural rubber?

Has anyone else hit with this rubber?  Blitz's throw is much lower than X-Plode's and I'm having a hard time adjusting to it because of it.  In practice I can hit balls nicely, but in a game, it not so forgiving (need to work on footwork!!!)

Given the wildly varying reports of Blitz's throw angle here and on ooak, I am now of the opinion that it's highly subject to each blade's characteristics. Same with regards to spin on serve, where I consider Blitz to be very strong.

Where do you guys buy the Palio Blitz? Thanks.

is blitz ittf approved because it's not on the list?

Skyline

Palio Blitz is an approved rubber, no. 55-006; on the ITTF Racket coverings list, in PDF form; covering 1st July-31 Decenber 2010.

Ignore the "Refer to the PDF for validity" link towards the top of the ITTF Racket coverings page, as it is linked to the out of date Approved list, covering 1st January - 30th June 2010.

Look under the Giant Dragon logo in the right hand column and you'll notice a box underneath, containing the link to download the current approved list; covering 1st July - 31st December 2010.

Just bought a very slightly (perhaps 10 mins) used Blitz from Loopmeister - will test it soon on BBC 9-10-9 (or on Nexy Color) and will report back. Hopefully, it is an improvement on PME, or at least as good.

nathanso wrote: I'm using Blitz on a 2-speed 9-10-9 (as is Charlie of BBC) and can tell you that it's very good indeed. Compared to PME it has more spin, less boing, and best of all, far more resistance to incoming spin. Try blocking an inbound hook loop straight back to the sender and prepare to be astounded.

Will gladly do that as soon as I can. Does it indeed feel to you a bit softer than PME 47.5? I am concerned about playing against LPs - usually the softer the rubber, the more your stroke is vulnerable to the spin deception...

nathanso wrote: JimT wrote: Will gladly do that as soon as I can. Does it indeed feel to you a bit softer than PME 47.5? I am concerned about playing against LPs - usually the softer the rubber, the more your stroke is vulnerable to the spin deception... I loaned out my PME 47.5* so I can't help you there. I can tell you that Blitz is very resistant to incoming spin; worlds apart from PME 42.5* in that regard.

But that is not surprising seeing as how Blitz is much harder than 42.5. I bet you would see comparably same effect by simply playing with PME 47.5... am I right?

Indeed, Blitz is softer than PME 47.5 - I have no idea why Palio thinks it's the same hardness. Perhaps, formally it is but its porousness and different pip structure makes it play noticeably softer.

Other than that, plays very nice - like a happy medium between PME 47.5 and 42.5. If you wished there was something in the middle - Blitz is for you. Not for me though, I need real 47.5... better yet 48-49. I will be waiting for Thors to test that one as well.

yes, with hexer.